Jackson defeats Central in consolation final

SIKESTON -- After Jackson allowed Central to claw back into the game, the Indians hit their free throws down the stretch Friday at the SEMO Conference tournament.

The Indians hit 12 of their 14 attempts over the final 4 minutes, 49 seconds of the fourth quarter to close out the 55-43 victory.

"We need to shoot our free throws well," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said.

Jackson opened a 12-point lead on a free throw in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but the Tigers answered by going on an 8-0 run to close within four with 4:49 left.

"We relaxed a little too much," Jackson senior Marcus Harris said. "We started to let them get back in it, so we had to pick up the intensity."

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comCentral's Blake Ozbun looks to pass as Jackson's Marcus Harris defends during the first quarter of their consolation final game Friday at the SEMO Conference tournament in Sikeston.

Harris was one of the top free-throw shooters for the Indians, hitting 5 of his 6 attempts in the second half. He finished with a team-high 17 points.

Scott said that his team started taking ill-advised shots during Central's fourth-quarter run.

"We were real quick with shots," Scott said. "We were coming down, one pass and taking shots that weren't great shots."

Jackson senior Andrew Shrum, who finished with nine points, said Scott told the team during a timeout that it needed to play relaxed to end Central's run.

"He told everyone to calm down, get it inside, post up," Shrum said. "We needed to box out a whole lot better."

Jackson's fourth-quarter drought came after the Indians shot 27 percent from the field in the first half, but still enjoyed a 21-16 lead at halftime.

"We've got some shooters, and unfortunately I don't think they've really started to get in their rhythm yet," Harris said.

Central coach Drew Church was pleased with his team's spurt in the fourth quarter, but said his Tigers lacked the intensity that carried them to victory over Charleston earlier in the tournament.

"It's hard to win with 30 turnovers," Church said. "We didn't have any fire tonight. We didn't have as much fire as we did against Charleston. I don't know what the difference was, but we didn't play near as well as we did Tuesday."

Central senior Josh Harris kept the Tigers in the game down the stretch by getting to the basket and getting fouled. He finished with a game-high 18 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

Central (2-3) led early, but Jackson overtook the lead midway through the first quarter and never trailed again. Scott was pleased with his team's effort since its first game was Tuesday. He decided to start the season later this year in case the football team made another deep run into the playoffs, which it did. After watching his team play three games in four days to open the season, he was pleased with the outcome.

"If you told me coming in that we would go 2-1, I would be happy with that," Scott said. "Realistically, winning the tournament would have been a really long shot, so winning two games was good for us."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:

Jackson1471717-- 55

Central791116--43

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Jackson (55) -- Marcus Harris 17, Kyle Keith 8, Cody Green 3, Andrew Shrum 9, Lucas Davis 1, Zach McDowell 5, Eli Gohn 4, Bobby Clark 8. FG 15, FT 20-28, F 24 (3-pointers: Keith 2, McDowell 1. Fouled out: Green)

Central (43) -- Dylan Thomas 4, Terrance Howard 5, Andrew Williams 1, Josh Harris 18, Kevin Casasola 2, Rick Russell 7, Zach Boerboom 6. FG 15, FT 12-24, F 21 (3-pointers: Howard 1. Fouled out: Boerboom)